The cast of Friday's public reading at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto. L-R: Scott Emerson Moyle; Amy Keller; Liz Best; Alex Zonjic; M. John Kennedy; director Eric Benson, and Krystina Bojonowski. I'm just going to guess who they were playing: Scott as Dany; Amy as Maryline; Liz as Sylvie; Alex as Olivier; John as M. Picard; and Krystina as Alexe. (Did I get it right?)

As of this moment, I have no idea who won this weekend's Safewordscompetition for which The Paradise Armswas a finalist: the winner will be announced tomorrow. But come what may, I wanted to express my gratitude to the organizers and jury... and especially to the insanely busy Eric Benson and all of these brave performers for pouring themselves into Olivier Sylvestre's strange and beautiful world of dogs and drugs and doppelgangers, of crisis and transformation. Thank you, all of you. I wish I could meet you, my collaborators... but if you ever make it to Vancouver, there's a convertible day-bed, a beat-up blue bike, and a Xinjiang halal meal with your name on them.